Curriculum Committee

Update

2-16-2007

• In 2005 we decided to form a Curriculum Committee

• Dennis Runyon• Chas Gilmore• Geoff Steinberg• Glenn Thomas• Ryan Conlon• Brandon Stetter• Greg Mulhollen• Joe Vincent• Myke Matuszak

Our Ultimate Goal

• Start with high school students

• End with employable, polished, competent graduates who have exciting careers ahead of them.

Two Goals for the 2006-2007 Year

• Review the required courses and make update recommendations.

• Meet with recent grads again and get their feedback.

CIS Major Requirements

Electives 15 Hours

Student chooses “specialization”

Required 15 Hours

Specific courses/prerequisites mandated

CIS Requirement

CIS Required CoursesOur Focus

M&IS 24060 Systems Analysis I

M&IS 24070 Princ. of System Dev.

M&IS 44042 Telecom & Networking

M&IS 44043 Database Mgmt Systems

M&IS 44048 Software Integration (Writing Intensive Course)

CIS Requirement

Our Process

• Assign one course to each committee member

• Review syllabus– Compare to “hot list” of topics from March– Ask lots of questions– Recommend Delete/Add/Changes

• See changes through

Course Coordinator Responsibilities

1. With multiple sections/instructors – get agreement on learning objectives

2. Ensure the syllabi are similar between sections3. Where possible use the same text books4. Keep course content contemporary with future business

requirements5. Meet with other course coordinators (of required

courses) to go over what is covered in each course6.   When a course coordinator isn’t teaching the course

during the semester, they must make sure the syllabi, learning objectives, and content are very similar.

Committee Member

• Dennis Runyon• Chas Gilmore• Myke Matuszak• Brandon Stetter• Ryan Conlon

• Glenn Thomas• Geoff Steinberg

• Greg Mulhollen• Joe Vincent

Courses

24060 Systems Analysis I

44048 Software Integration

44042 Telecomunications

24070 Princ. of Sys Dev.

44043 Data Mgt. Systems

Current Student feedback

Recent Grad feedback

Current Students

• What should KSU be teaching you that we haven’t?– Additional language courses– Database integration– Code reviews– Real world projects

Current Students

• What makes the best instructors/classes?– Relevance to real world– Hands-on / interactive– Good communicators– Enthusiasm

Current Students

• Recommendations– Increase hands-on of current technology– Build courses on prior courses– More professional speakers– Course naming / syllabus improvement– Internship awareness

Recent Graduates1-24-2007

• Six Recent Graduates– Melinda Stahl– Matt Loveless– Scott Brearley– Brian Schwartz– David Drzewieki– Erika Sheeler

• Three Curriculum Committee Members– Joe Vincent– Greg Mulhollen– Ryan Conlon

Melinda Stahl

Matt Loveless

David DrzewieckiScott Brearley

Brian Schwartz

Erika Sheeler

What we heard:Recent Grads

– CIS chosen to become well rounded in Technical and Business

– Some of the technologies taught need to be more relevant

– Real world examples are important to aid in understanding

– An understanding of “Consulting” versus “In-house” Corporate positions would have been valuable

– Soft Skills are critical to success and should be covered

What we heard:Recent Grads

• Teach us about “real life”– HR, Politics, Changing

Project Scope– Skills get you in the door,

personality and dealing with people get you the job

– Hard courses are OK, you learn more

What we heard:Recent Grads

Student comparison

• Current Students– focused on hard skills – not aware of the

weaknesses of the business writing course

– do not value the tough and vague courses

– Want increased real world instruction

• Recent Graduates– focused on soft skills – felt that the business

writing course was ineffective

– appreciated the tough and vague courses now, although they did not in college

– Wished that there was more real world instruction

Next Steps

• Continue with Course Reviews to ensure Technologies used in coursework are relevant in today's job market

• Conduct Systems Analysis II course in conjunction with successful Business Leaders …

Systems Analysis II (new)

• Business Leaders represent a “real world” customer, as well as a mentor to the students in their creation of their required class project

As a Mentor …

• Help them understand how a successful project team succeeds in the Analysis, Design, and Implementation of a project

– Techniques to ensure accurate understanding of the project requirements

– How to deal with organization and

personnel issues with Customers,

Peers, and within a team setting

As a Customer …

• Create a “real world” situation common to what the students will face on the job

– Challenging Customer Interaction– Constantly Changing Scope of project– Unrealistic Timelines

Two Goals for the 2006-2007 Year

• Review the required courses and make update recommendations.

• Meet with recent grads again and get their feedback.